Donald Brown Earns the Highest Respect

Intro: Over the course of his five seasons with the Indianapolis Colts, Donald Brown has seen his roles change in a variety of ways. The one constant though has been the professional preparation of Brown, which his teammates hold in high regard.

INDIANAPOLIS – There’s not many voices in the Colts locker room that gets people to gravitate towards a specific locker like Robert Mathis.

While Mathis won’t talk at extreme length when answering questions, his answers are succinct when evaluating a specific topic.

There’s no tiptoeing around answers when Mathis speaks.

So when Mathis was asked about Donald Brown earlier this week, the 11-year veteran did not hesitate with his answer.

“Probably one of the greatest teammates you ever want to have,” Mathis said of Brown. “You can’t ask for more out a guy. He clocks in, does his job, doesn’t get in trouble. Really just the ultimate professional and a guy that you like to have on your side.”

The words “consummate professional” are routinely thrown around when players and coaches describe Brown.

Mathis jokes that you are lucky to get “five words out of Brown” on a daily basis but that’s simply because the fifth-year running back views things at a macro scale even though his reps have been varied through his time in Indianapolis.

“He doesn’t like to talk about himself because he’s not his favorite subject,” Mathis said of Brown. “He just goes to work and he just lets his play do all the talking.“There’s a lot of guys that would get discouraged and just lose all their confidence, but he’s not a guy like that. He just comes in and does what got him drafted. And that’s saying a lot.”

By just going about his business, Brown is putting together one his best seasons since joining the Colts in 2009.

Donald Brown’s Career Stats

Year

Touches

Yards

Average

Touchdowns

2009

89 (78 rushes)

450

5.0

3

2010

149 (129 rushes)

702

4.7

2

2011

150 (134 rushes)

731

4.8

5

2012

117 (108 rushes)

510

4.3

1

2013 (on pace)

120 (94 rushes)

719

5.9

6

Making such an assessment back during the offseason would have seemed ridiculous considering who was in front of Brown.

Another season ending injury moved Brown up the depth chart, but still behind Trent Richardson.

Now it’s Brown running out with the first unit, and his quarterback could not be happier for the “ultimate teammate.”

“He’s a great locker room guy, always early to everything, asks great questions, works as hard as he does in practice in the weight room and meetings,” Luck said on Wednesday.

“So when good things happen to him on Sunday, it’s both well-deserved and guys are definitely happy for him because they see him put all the work in.”

Whether it’s as punt protector or grinding out fourth quarter carries, Brown has always been there.

His words might not be demonstrative but there’s no doubt what Browns means to the Colts.

“(Brown) handles his business day in and day out as good as anybody in our locker room,” head coach Chuck Pagano says.

“It means a lot to Donald to wear the horseshoe on his helmet and represent his name on the back of his jersey. I think to a man, in this organization in this building and in that locker room, he’s one of the most respected guys that we have.”

The Indianapolis Colts have signed Matt Eberflus as defensive coordinator, Nick Sirianni as offensive coordinator, Bubba Ventrone as special teams coordinator and Rusty Jones as director of sports performance.

Frank Reich spent two seasons as Peyton Manning’s quarterbacks coach with the Indianapolis Colts, which turned out to be arguably his best two years in Indy. We take a look back at Reich’s rise through the coaching ranks.

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